Boy, 2, found wandering in rain, cold

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Police in Indianapolis arrested two people Saturday morning after a 2-year-old child was found walking alone in the rain and cold with one shoe.

A woman called police around 7:42 a.m. Saturday after discovering the boy in the 7200 block of Meridian Terrace, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report.

The woman told officers the boy was walking in the street alone, wearing one shoe, blue jeans and a short-sleeve shirt. It was raining and 39 degrees at the time.

Investigators knocked on doors in the area to track down the child’s parents. When they did, officers said the apartment was “very filthy,” with dishes and food piled up in the kitchen.

An officer noticed a bong — used for smoking marijuana — in the living room, the report said. The mother of the child said it was hers and told police she smoked marijuana in the bathroom around 6 a.m.. She then put the boy near the front door to play while she went to play video games. The next thing she knew, officers were knocking on her door at 8 a.m. The boy’s father said he was asleep.

After finding marijuana in a place that could have been accessed by the 2-year-old, officers arrested the parents, the report said.

Alice Downey, 24, and Eric Sherwood, 27, were arrested on preliminary charges of neglect. Downey faces an additional preliminary charge of possession of paraphernalia and Sherwood faces an additional preliminary charge of possession of marijuana.

Department of Child Services took custody of the boy.